Ecuador hardly has a rich cycling heritage, but a glance at the newspapers on Monday left little doubt as to the extent to which Richard Carapaz`s Giro d`Italia victory has captured the imagination of a nation. The `Locomotive of Carchi`, to borrow the nickname that has caught on over the past three weeks, dominated pretty much every front page. `Historic`, cried El Universo, beneath the letters CARAPAZ, printed in pink upon a full-page photo of the champion with the trofeo senza fine in the Verona Arena.ADVERTISEMENT Indeed, the consensus was that Carapaz, in becoming the first Ecuadorean to win a Grand Tour and the second South American - after Colombian Nairo Quintana - to win the Giro, had instantly become one of the country`s all-time sporting greats. `Richard Carapaz is already an immortal figure in Ecuadorian sport,` wrote Ricardo Vasconcellos Figueroa in El Universo. `At the 2019 Giro d`Italia, the rider from Carchi attained the sort of legend status that is only reached through unprecedented success, through world class achievement, through memorable acts that give you goosebumps and fill you with pride, through exploits that shake a nation and absolutely grip its people to a competition that consecrates a champion forever. That`s how Carapaz reached sporting immortality.
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